


Pervading the Night

by Fernatticus



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Escape, Explicit Language, First Meetings, Gen, Hurt Caleb Widogast, POV Caleb Widogast, Prison, Strangers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 16:55:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24310174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fernatticus/pseuds/Fernatticus
Summary: Caleb escapes with some help from a surprisingly kind stranger.
Relationships: Nott & Caleb Widogast
Comments: 5
Kudos: 44





	Pervading the Night

He had been stupid. Stupid and slow. Caleb had many talents, but he wasn’t sneaky. He had grabbed the coin from the top of the counter and upon turning to run, had found his arm locked by the glowering shop keeper. Next thing he knew he was being roughly dragged down a filthy, dank and dark hallway. He put up little resistance. What good would it do now? He was out of spells and was beyond exhaustion. He wouldn’t make it out of here alive if he tried to flee. He lowered his head and grit his teeth. The two guards holding his arms suddenly stopped. He heard metallic clanks and the sound of a door being swung open. With an impactful thud, he hit the cold concrete, shielding his head with his arms to avoid any lasting trauma. He lay there for a moment, listening as the guards slammed and locked the metal door behind him, trapping him in this unfamiliar environment.

Caleb slowly lifted his head. His body ached from a combination of weariness from running and soreness from being captured, beaten and dragged. His bleary eyes adjusted to his new room. It was dusk at this point, so the room was dimly lit with the only light source in the room itself being a small window elevated on the far wall. The room, or cell more specifically, was small, with concrete making up the floor and walls. The floor was dirty, and across it various pieces of hay were left scattered. There was a single pot in the left corner near the door. He stood up slowly, brushing off his jacket. A twinge of anger hit him upon not feeling the outline of his books. They had been unceremoniously ripped from him, along with all his other possessions. He turned around and examined the bars. He could see out into the hallway where a guard was posted on either end. The hallway was dimly lit by flickering torches mantled on the walls. In the distance he could hear faint conversations, unintelligible and echoing.

He sighed and turned back to his room. He was about to sit down when he noticed a glint in the rightmost corner. He blinked for a second, wondering if he could have imagined it, but upon squinting he could see two yellow eyes staring back at him. Instinctually, he took a step back.

“H-hallo,” He said quietly. Getting a better look at the figure didn’t reveal much. The individual was cloaked and hiding amongst the shadows. They were pressed far into the corner, sitting on top of some of the hay. Their knees were pressed to their chest and they seemed to be shaking.

“Hi,” She responded. Caleb was taken aback by the voice that came out. It was shaky and somewhat shrill. More than that, it was young and feminine. Not at all what he expected out of Creepy Figure in the Corner. She squinted slightly at him, looking him up and down suspiciously.

She wasn’t wrong to be suspicious, Caleb thought to himself. He was disheveled, with his uncut hair and scruff, he looked as if he hadn’t bathed in months (which really wasn’t far from the truth.) His jacket was equally filthy and in some places ripped. He awkwardly nodded to the girl and walked to the left corner, parallel but away from her. He began to take off his jacket to use as a cushion to sit on when a shiver ran up his back.The cell was poorly insulated, and being in mid Unndilar, it was quite cold outside. He decided to take a clue from the mystery figure and collected some of the hay. He laid it down on the ground. He sat down and immediately felt a rush of relief. Despite these poor conditions and circumstances, just being able to get off his feet felt wonderful. He sighed and put his face in his hands. He sat there for a moment just trying to collect his thoughts. He reflected on how he had gotten there and what he needed to do next. 

Obviously staying here wouldn’t work. He’d rather be starving than trapped. Most importantly he needed to get his books back. He also needed to work quickly, because if anyone from the Cerberus Assembly caught onto where he was, he would be brought back to the sanitorium and he’d much rather die than let that happen. He peeked through his hands and willed frumkin into the cell. Frumpkin poofed in front of him. Caleb peered out to see if any of the guards had taken notice. The closest one seemed not to have noticed, so he picked up Frumpkin and set him in his lap. He scratched Frumpkins head and tried to calm down a bit. 

“Is that your cat?” A voice asked quietly, startling Caleb. He glanced up. The girl’s eyes were locked onto him intensely.

“Oh… Jah. He is my cat..” Caleb responded cautiously. He kicked himself for not even considering hiding Frumpkin from the stranger.

“And he just appears?” She asked.

“He’s a very good cat,” He set Frumpkin down on the ground carefully. “His name is Frumpkin.”

She chuckled. “Weird name.” Caleb directed Frumpkin to walk up to the girl, going into Frumpkin vision. Frumpkin could see much better in the dark. He padded his way up to the girl and sat down at her feet. Getting a better look he saw her face. She had big yellow eyes with dark red slits. Dark hair fell in strands in front of her face which was wrapped with bandages. When she stared down at the cat, he caught a glimpse of what could only be described as fangs. She had two large and pointy ears which perked up when Frumpkin crawled onto her lap. Caleb recognised her from description. She was a goblin.

She looked up past Frumpkin and asked “Can I pet him?”

Caleb immediately snapped back and met her gaze. He felt conflicted. He had grown up being told of goblins being cruel and evil monsters, and he didn’t have any reason to distrust those stories. But a bigger part of him was curious about his new cellmate.

“Ja.” She beamed and started carefully petting Frumpkin. Frumpkin purred and nestled into her lap. “He likes scritches.”

She glanced up. “I might cut him if I do that, though. These things are crazy sharp.” She held up one of her hands. She only had four fingers, and they looked more like claws, with large, sharp nails. She lowered her hand and returned her attention to the cat. Caleb felt somewhat nervous with his cat in the lap of a stranger and a potentially dangerous stranger at that. Frumpkin seemed okay with her, and Caleb was way too tired to complain, so he laid down, still facing the two. He intended to stay awake, just to watch and make sure nothing happened, but after only a few moments sleep overtook his consciousness. 

He didn’t dream. He hadn’t dreamed in a long time, and boy was he grateful for that. In the sanitorium he had dreamed, and it broke him a little more everyday. He had dreamed of his parents in the house burning. He had dreamed of his parents dying. It was an awful dream, but a worse memory.

He awoke to a loud and intentional clanging of metal against metal. He sat up with a start, spinning towards the source of the noise. His eyes met with those of a guard, holding in one hand a metal batten, and with the other two trays of food.

“Oi. Get the freak up,” the guard barked. “Meal time.”

With that, he slid the trays in through a slit on the bottom of the door. Caleb looked over at the goblin girl, who seemed to have just woken up. Frumpkin seemed to have left at some point during the night, as he was now curled up next to Caleb. The girl's eyes opened wide and she hopped up and ran to the door. She reached down to grab the tray only to be cut off by another clang. She recoiled her hand and looked up at the guard who pointed the baton at her.

“Don’t get too close to the bars. Only reason you’re alive is because the lawmaster hasn’t gotten to you. Act up and I'll make sure you’re dealt with before that,” The guard growled. The height discrepancy between the two was huge. He loomed over her menacingly and she took a step back. He chuckled to himself and walked off. She waited a beat after he walked off to snatch the tray.

“Fucker,” she spat after him. She ran to her corner and immediately began scarfing down the contents of the tray. She ate loudly and quickly. Caleb sighed and stood up and walked over to his tray, bringing it back to his designated corner. 

It was day now, with the daylight peering through a window in the middle of the wall and illuminating the room. He could also see the goblin in much better light. He saw what Frumpkin had seen the night prior, just in better detail. Apparently his eyes lingered too long because she looked up at him.

“What?” She asked, quickly finishing off her meal.

“Sorry. Nothing. You just seemed hungry.” he explained.

“Yeah. They haven’t actually fed me since I got here. I just assumed they were trying to starve me.” She responded leaning back. 

“How long have you been here?” He asked.

She hesitated before answering. “A few days. Three I think. Which means I’ve spent more time in this stupid prison than in the actual city. Total bullshit.”

Caleb didn’t have anything to say to that, so he concentrated on his meal. A few minutes passed of silence before she spoke once more.

“Why’d you get thrown in this place?” She asked, eying him. Caleb thought for a moment and decided there was no real reason to lie.

“I stole from a shop. Or at least I tried. And you?” A part of him felt shitty telling a stranger this, but it had been so long he had talked to anyone. Appearances aside, it just felt great to be talking with someone, even if they were a goblin.

“I got caught stealing some cherry wine.” She sighed. “Also I’m a goblin. It's probably mostly the second one.”

Caleb somehow found himself chuckling. He stopped immediately when he saw her notice.

“Scheiße. Sorry I didn’t mean to… I wasn't laughing at you, it's just-” he desperately tried to explain. She waved him off.

“No you’re fine. I’m just surprised. You’re like… an actual person. It’s refreshing.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean have you seen those guards? They are like comically evil!”

Caleb laughed. He let out his first laugh in over a decade. 

“My name is Nott by the way. Nott the Brave” He stared at her, somewhat starstruck. This little goblin with terrifying teeth and large yellow eyes was showing him the first kindness he had seen in a long time.

“Caleb.” He lied, picking the first random name that came to mind. “Caleb Widogast.”

“I’m not keen on dying in here and I don’t think you are either. I saw what you can do with Frumpkin. Do you have any other spells? Distraction making ones, specifically.” Her ears perked up and a mischievous smile crept across her face. She exited the corner and scooted closer so that she could speak quietly to him.

He thought for a moment “I may have something, but even with a distraction I don’t have a way of getting us out.”

“I could get us out, I just need a lockpick. You think the cat-”

“Frumpkin.”

“- Frumpkin could get a bobby pin or wire in here?”

“Ja. It may take a bit, though.”

She nodded. “That’s fine. I can wait a bit longer. Just make sure not to get caught.” 

Caleb turned to Frumpkin, who was just now waking, seemingly not having been awoken by the guards racket. 

I need you to find a wire or bobby pin. Something that one over there can use. I can’t go with you past a certain point so it’s up to you. He scratched Frumpkin behind the ear, and with that, Frumpkin poofed. Caleb stood up and walked to the barred window, to see Frumpkin dart off into the village. Caleb sat back down and turned to Nott.

“I’m going to space out for a while. I won’t be able to hear you. If something happens and I need to come back, tap me three times on the shoulder,” He explained, sitting down. She gave a thumbs up, and scooted next to him.

With that Caleb took over Frumpkin. He hadn’t spent much time in the village, so the layout was somewhat alien. Compared to the grand capital of Rexxentrum, this village was impoverished, with a collection of humans and halflings roaming the streets going along their daily routines. The people here were humble, and the architecture of various homesteads and shops reflected this idea. Frumpkin navigated the unpaved roads, keeping his eyes low to the ground. It was only a matter of time before the connection between them was severed and he could only see through his eyes. Caleb got increasingly more and more nervous before he felt a rapid and anxious tapping on his shoulder. Immediately he pulled away and back to his body. He turned to Nott who was poking him repeatedly.

“What’s-” His question was cut off by the gravelly voice of a guard.

“Law master will review your case tomorrow. You’ll get to make your case and then her ruling will be law,” He read off as if he’d said it a million times.

“Danke,” Caleb kept his head low, barely meeting the guard's eyes. The guards attention then turned over to Nott, who released her grip on Caleb’s sleeve which neither had noticed she was holding.

“As for you,” His tone soured and his brow furrowed “You will be executed at sundown tomorrow.”

“W-wait!” She exclaimed “I didn’t even get a trial. This isn’t f-”

“Nobody gives a fuck. If there’s one less goblin roaming our streets, we’re doing our job of improving the empire. The less scum the better,” He barked.

“I’m not like them! I’m not a-” Tears formed in her eyes.

“I’ve watched what your kind is capable of. You’re beasts, all of you. If I had it my way, we’d hunt your kind down and run you extinct,” He spat at her. His voice was filled with a familiar conviction that Caleb heard in the voices of his teachers and peers back at the Soltryce Academy. It was utter uncontrolled hatred and disgust. The guard walked off stiffly. The two of them sat there in silence for a moment.

She finally broke the tension. “Sorry for pulling you out,” She wiped away her tears and looked down.

“Geht es dir gut?” He asked softly. He weirdly felt bad for this near stranger. She looked up at him, confused.

“I don’t speak your weird language.” She took a deep breath.

“Ah, sorry. Are you alright?” He rephrased, slightly embarrassed. 

“I’m okay.” She sighed “We just have a stricter timetable than what I expected. How’s the cat doing?”

Caleb tried to connect to Frumpkin, to no avail. “He’s too far away. I can’t talk with him anymore.”

“What if he decides this is dumb and bails?” She asked.

“Frumpkin is a good cat. He wouldn’t do that,” Caleb responded, getting weirdly defensive. The two of them sat for silence for a few minutes.

“They really haven’t fed you in three days?” Caleb asked, genuinely curious.

“Something like that, yeah.” She peered around the corner to see the guard was in no way paying attention “I think they were just planning on starving me to death. They fucking suck.”

“What have you been drinking?” She turned to him and reached down to her belt. Underneath her clothing she pulled out a flask which had up until now been obscured by her worn, baggy clothes. She lifted a finger to her lips and winked.

“How did you-” He started.

“I have my ways.” She put it back, securing it away from any prying eyes. He was genuinely impressed by this. The guards had stripped him of all his possessions before he was thrown in the cell. There was a chance that the guards just didn’t want to touch the goblin, but nonetheless, it was a feat.

Just then Caleb felt Frumpkin enter his range. He directed Frumpkin to go towards the prison. Caleb stood up and walked to the window and peered out. The window overlooked a dense forest which stretched much further than Caleb could see. Keeping his eyes peeled, he saw the orange cat exit out of the trees. Caleb smiled and snapped Frumpkin to him.

Frumpkin hopped out of Caleb’s arms and padded his way over to Nott. Her face lit up as Frumpkin dropped a small piece of wire into her lap. She pet Frumpkin’s head and pocketed the piece of wire. 

“Alright. When does this go down?” She asked, looking up to Caleb expectantly. Caleb thought for a moment.

“We wait until night. I can make a distraction and get the guards to go. We’ll keep the door closed until they’re gone.” He was a good speaker, and she was an equally good listener. It had been so long since Caleb had gotten the chance to exercise this sort of critical thinking. An all too familiar feeling of pride and power welled up in his chest which he immediately suppressed.

It was still mid day by this point. The pair waited in silence, tracking the patterns and rotations of the guards, waiting for an opportune for Nott to pick the lock. Caleb kept a mental clock, keeping their shifts down to the second. Finally it was time.

“Jetzt. Now,” He nudged her. She darted over to the cell with surprising speed. She quickly got to work on the lock. Caleb kept an eye on the hallway, but couldn’t help but catch a glimpse of her work. Her precision and skill was remarkable. She stuck out her tongue, focusing on her work. In the course of only a few moments, Caleb heard a soft clink, as Nott recoiled. She darted back to the wall, taking care not to bump the door. The whole process took only a few moments and Caleb was thoroughly impressed by her agility and skill.

With that, the newest guards rotated in, taking their respective posts. Nott turned back to Caleb and shot him a big toothy grin, before sitting back down on her haystack. 

“That was impressive. Where did you learn to do that?” He asked. She looked surprised for a second and thought for a moment.

“You know… Goblin… school,” she said awkwardly. “Where’d you learn magic?”

“Ah… you know. Wizard school,” he echoed her. It was a weak attempt at humor, but she laughed nonetheless. She noticed herself laughing, and self consciously ducked her head down, hiding her face a bit. 

Caleb returned to the window, staring out at the surrounding landscape. There was no accounting for where they’d go if they were to escape at all. He tried his best to memorize the landscape to the best of his ability from this tiny cell window. His mind wandered from the current task, and he found himself thinking back. Only a few years ago he had escaped the sanitorium. He had been a shell of a person. A vegetable at best. To think he was here now, communicating with another person was beyond him. The sun began to set, and his eyes flickered to the girl. Their eyes caught for a moment, and he realized she had been looking at him. She quickly averted her eyes, her cheeks turning emerald with embarrassment.  
The hours became later and later, and soon it became dusk. All the while they shared in the silence and their company. Caleb looked out the window one last time, readying himself for one last time. He turned to his newfound companion and nodded. He looked down at his hand, and cast a firebolt cantrip. Aiming for the easily combustible hay stack, he fired. The fire lit, quickly spreading over the mound. The fire on the engulfed mound, speed to some of the scattered hay around the room.   
Caleb’s eyes focused on the flames, and a horrible familiar feeling hit his chest. His eyes glazed over slightly and his mind drifted. He recollected learning this cantrip for the first time. Master Ikithon had called him after class. Caleb had walked in hopeful and charged, Master Ikithon’s words of praise and encouragement ringing in his ears. He had been young. And naive  
.  
Caleb was pulled out of the memory by a shrill yell from behind him. He spun around to see the young Nott yelling and clanging at the metal bars.

“Hey you motherfuckers! The cell’s on fire! Get us out!” She screamed at the guard, who spun to face their cell, his face spelling panic.

“What the fuck? How did-” A gaunt half elf ran over, peering inside. He analyzed the situation and quickly made up his mind. Without acknowledging the two inside the cell, he turned and fled, yelling out to alert his other guards. He ran out of the tunnel, leaving the two of them alone.

Caleb turned to Nott and nodded, and the two left the cell. They ran down the hallway in the other direction. Caleb perfectly remembered the parts of the prison he had been dragged through, and knew the quickest way to the exit. It seemed like Nott knew the way to the exit as well, for when they reached a stretching hallway, Caleb automatically turned left as Nott turned right. They both stopped immediately.  
“What are you doing? We need to go,” She hissed, anxiously checking down the hall they had just exited from.

“Nein. Not without my books. I know where they are holding our stuff,” He explained with haste. He knew he should just run, but he waited for her to decide.

Apprehensively, she agreed, joining him towards the vault. The two of them ran down the dim hallway without issue. They found themselves in front of a bolted, large wooden door. Caleb ran up and tried to open it. The door was bolted shut, and anxiety shot through his body. Before he had a chance to process this panic, he felt two deft hands push him aside. Nott crouched in front of the door, meticulously working on the lock with the piece of wire. Within moments, the doors lock clicked, and she pulled the door open. Caleb ran inside and found himself face to face with two crownsguard, standing in the room. One was armed with a heavy crossbow and the other with a shortsword. Inside the room were two tables covered in various items, including two distinct and important books.

“Scheiße!” He swore, as a crossbow bolt flew past his face. He ducked out of the way and fell under a wooden table. He watched as Nott dashed off, hiding behind a crate. Caleb peaked out and cast magic missile, aiming at the guard with the crossbow. The magic missiles shot out in a volley, hitting the guard in the chest. Caleb ducked away again as the guard stumbled back, falling unconscious. He started to prepare to fire again when he felt a deep, sharp pain enter his shoulder. He turned back to see the remaining guard plunging his shortsword into Caleb's arm. Caleb let out a guttural noise and fell forward. The guard pulled back and raised his shortsword up. The guard began to slice down once again, and Caleb braced for impact. The guard was stopped mid swing by a crossbow arrow which entered from one side of his skull and protruded from the other.

The guard fell to the ground dead. Caleb grasped his bleeding shoulder and looked out to see Nott brandishing a crossbow. Her disposition was intense and her brow was furrowed. She looked over to Caleb, and then turned back to the table. She started rummaging through the possessions on the table.

“Danke…” He gasped, walking over to the table “Nott,” he added as an afterthought.

They each began reclaiming their confiscated possessions. Caleb immediately scooped up his books, securing them in their respective holsters. The other item of importance was his necklace, but luckily that hadn’t been taken. He collected the other recognizable items of his on the table and began looking for what else there were. There were few items left out, and he began to realize that the possessions kept in here were only the ones belonging to him and Nott. Nott, holstered her crossbow. With that she grabbed a shortsword, two vials of a fluid caleb didn’t recognize at glace, and the mask made of the face of what he assumed to be some sort of porcelain doll. 

“Fuckers took my collections,” She growled to herself. With everything on the table taken back, they exited the room with Caleb grabbing the shortsword off the fallen guard on his way out.   
As they exited, a distinct ringing echoed through the hall. Caleb, having grown up in the empire, recognized this as a calling for support. The searing pain in his shoulder was replaced with a flight or fight type of urgency. They rushed towards the door to the outside and burst out, spilling into the night. Stumbling out onto the gravel, torch light illuminated them as a decorated female guard joined by two other lower level guards yelled out.

“You two! Halt!” She yelled, brandishing a well polished longsword, pointing it straight at them. They froze for a moment, Nott swiveling her head looking for a way out. Caleb, noticing her desperation, scooped up her hand and started to run towards the tree line, pulling her with him. 

“Stop them!” The female guard bellowed as the two slipped into the forest. Caleb was distinctly slower than Nott, but she pulled him along. She easily jumped over roots and ducked under low hanging branches with remarkable ease. For someone so malnourished, she ran as if it were her last shot to live (which it definitely could be). Caleb did his best to keep up, but he was in no state to be doing this. Blood ran down his arm, and his vision clouded. Behind him, he could hear shouts and orders gaining on them.

Without warning, Nott tackled Caleb to the ground, pulling him behind a tree. For a moment, he feared the worst. Why had he trusted her? Of course she would betray him. He shouldn’t have expected otherwise. He sat up behind the tree, and looked over for Nott, half expecting her to be holding her shortsword to his throat. Just as soon as he turned his head, she disappeared. He could hear the footsteps of guards a little ways off.

“Fan out! Find them,” A voice boomed. The footsteps spread out. He could see the torch light flickering off the base of the trees in front of him getting slowly brighter and brighter. He mouthed curses, and began forming a firebolt in his hands. He peeked around to see the female guard, holding in one hand a torch, and in the other a menacing longsword. Caleb had not counted on how diligently she was keeping watch out, and with the pain pounding in his temples, he was not nearly as stealthy as he needed to be. Her eyes locked onto his and narrowed. She opened her mouth and was about to say something before a shadow dropped onto her.

“Ghk-” She gurgled, slumping and falling over. Caleb looked up and saw Nott breathing heavily and standing on her back, gripping the shortsword which was lodged in the back of the body.   
“That will get them off our backs for a while,” she ripped the shortsword out, and lodged it back into her belt. Caleb stared up at her, dumbstruck. He didn’t have much time to linger on this, because he could hear shouting from back the way he came. He stood up, and they took off.

They must have run for hours, the moon dimly illuminated the path ahead. The barking orders of the guards faded into the distance, and it quickly became just the two of them running in silence through the night. Finally, they stumbled across a small clearing surrounded with trees.

“We should bed down here. It’s well hidden,” He pointed out. He turned to Nott, who nodded. She looked exhausted. She was malnourished, so she must’ve used a lot of energy. He found an overturned dead log, which Caleb sat down on, grasping his untreated wound which was soaked in blood. She sat down on the ground and started checking her stuff. After a moment of rummaging, she pulled out her flask. She stood up and started walking towards him.

“Danke… for back there,” He murmured. 

“Which time?” She quipped. She uncapped her flask and overturned the contents onto his shoulder. It stung and Caleb inhaled sharply through his teeth. “This way it won’t get infected,”

She used the last of it on his wound and as the final drip came out, she frowned. She stuffed the flask back into her pocket and joined him sitting on the log. Caleb stared at her with wide eyes. Her kindness came so naturally and it seemed as if she didn’t even hesitate to help this near stranger. She also didn’t seem to comprehend her kindness, because she frowned at the sound of the near empty flask.

“You are… too kind,” he commented, choosing his words carefully.

“Kind enough that you won’t stab me in the night, rob me blind and ditch me?” She asked bluntly, raising an eyebrow. She was kidding, but she was genuinely trying to gauge a reaction. She was clever.  
“I would not do that.” She squinted at him “Well, I would. But not to you. You are a… freundin.” He immediately cringed at that. He knew he didn’t deserve friends, and he certainly didn’t know her well enough to call her that. She either didn’t pick up on this blunder, or she simply ignored it.

“Should we start a fire? It’s really cold out here,” It was at that point he noticed that she was shivering and he could see her breath. Her cloak was more thin than his coat, and Caleb had much more mass to keep himself warm. She began breathing hot air into her clasped hands.

“Jah. We need some wood and then I can start one.” He stood up and summoned Frumpkin, having the soft cat sit as a scarf to warm his neck. He started looking for any viable pieces of firewood. Nott walked to the other side of the clearing and began looking as well.

He found a couple of pieces of wood that would be good for a fire and went to set them down. Nott somehow found twice the firewood in the same amount of time. She set it down on the ground. He began to assemble to kindling, before looking up at her when he realized she wasn’t helping. She had preoccupied herself with cleaning her bloodied shortsword, but met his eyes. She blushed, embarrassed.

“I don’t really have any… survival skills,” She explained. He thought about this. She was an excellent fighter and was very capable with locks, yet somehow she didn’t know how to assemble a fire. Her skill set was strange.

“Oh. That’s fine I suppose,” He returned, going back to his work. He did an okay job of assembling the fire. He had been living on the run for years, and he had picked up a few new skills. He set off a spark and allowed the fire to light.

The goblin girl and the human man sat on opposite sides of the fire. Caleb pet Frumpkin as he stared into the flames. Nott warmed her hands and the light flickered in her expressive yellow eyes.

“Do you have somewhere to go?” He asked softly. Her eyes locked onto him and an indescribable look flashed across her face. Her bit her lip and he could almost swear he saw tears.

“No,” She responded with a bitterness not directed at him. He was absolutely taken aback by this. The surprise of meeting a kind goblin was a lot, but seeing one who’s face almost displayed grief was insane. He felt a little bad as she pulled her knees to her chest. “No.”

Eventually they individually drifted off, both exhausted from the day. Caleb was still suspicious of her, but curious to learn more. He didn’t have high hopes for their continued partnership. Eventually she would see the garbage he was and leave him.

**Author's Note:**

> everyone and their mom has written a caleb nott jailbreak fanfic but idk.


End file.
